Systems and methods for automated mass media commerce

ABSTRACT

Systems and methods for implementing point of advertising purchasing include using mass media publications configured for or containing service, product or vendor transmittable signals, such as from radio frequency identification tags. In a preferred arrangement, a consumer perceiving an advertisement of the mass media publication may activate a reader in a portable communications device, such as a smart mobile or cellular phone, to receive information from the radio frequency signal associated with the advertisement to identify a vendor, product or service associated with the radio frequency identification. The smart mobile phone or communications device of the consumer may communicate with a system of a vendor or vendors by way of a commerce data organization system across a network to order a product or product information from a system of the vendor over the network by using the information from the radio frequency identification.

CROSS REFERENCE TO RELATED APPLICATIONS

This application is a continuation of U.S. patent application Ser. Nos.13/840,776 and 13/841,000 both filed Mar. 15, 2013, which are each acontinuation-in-part of U.S. patent application Ser. No. 13/673,424filed Nov. 9, 2012, which is a continuation of U.S. patent applicationSer. No. 13/172,122 filed Jun. 29, 2011, and issued as U.S. Pat. No.8,315,914 on Nov. 20, 2012, which is a continuation of U.S. patentapplication Ser. No. 12/780,053 filed May 14, 2010, and issued as U.S.Pat. No. 7,991,644 on Aug. 2, 2011, which is a continuation of U.S.patent application Ser. No. 10/987,823 filed Nov. 12, 2004, and issuedas U.S. Pat. No. 7,739,150 on Jun. 15, 2010, which claims the benefit ofthe filing date of U.S. Provisional Patent Application No. 60/552,472filed Mar. 12, 2004, the entire disclosures of which are herebyincorporated herein by reference.

FIELD OF THE TECHNOLOGY

The present technology relates to wireless commerce systems. Moreparticularly, the technology involves a point of advertising wirelesscommerce system to enable pervasive commerce with mass mediapublications.

BACKGROUND OF THE TECHNOLOGY

Traditionally, vendors of services and product utilize mass media toadvertise their products. Thus, a vendor will publish an ad describingservice or products in magazines, catalogs, billboards, newspapers,radio or television broadcast publications. The advertisement is aimedat attracting the interest of a potential consumer. However, in order tomove beyond the stage of advertising, much effort is required by theconsumer.

The consumer typically has to either remember advertised information ifany interest in an advertised product or service will be pursued by theconsumer. In the situation where an advertisement includes contactinformation such as a telephone number, a consumer can dial the phonenumber to contact a vendor from information in the advertisement using atelephone, wireless or cellular phone. But the amount of effort that isrequired by the consumer from the point of advertisement to consummationof an actual purchase from the vendor can work against the vendor.Consumers can easily forget telephone numbers, URLs or other calls toaction or simply lose interest in an advertised product or service astime goes by after the consumer recognizes the advertisements.

SUMMARY OF THE TECHNOLOGY

The technology relates to an automated system for improving the wayconsumers respond to advertisements or otherwise contact vendors fromthe point of perceiving an advertisement. In one form, a system forprocessing a wireless order from a vendor over a network from a massmedia publication includes a mass media publication with anadvertisement. The mass media publication has a wireless identificationtransmission signal representing information of the advertisement. Inthe system, a mobile ordering device comprising a reader receives thewireless identification transmission signal from the mass mediapublication. The mobile ordering device is also configured to acceptinput from a consumer, generate a request with information from thewireless identification transmission signal and communicate the requestto and receive a response from a vendor system across a network. Thesystem also includes a vendor system for receiving and processing therequest of the mobile ordering device across the network, and respondingto the request by sending information to the mobile ordering device. Thesent information is associated with the wireless identificationtransmission signal from the mass media publication.

The technology also involves a method for making a wireless order from aconsumer to a vendor over a network from a mass media publication. Theconsumer reviews a mass media publication with a perceivableadvertisement. The mass media publication includes a wirelesstransmission identification signal representing information about avendor or product associated with the advertisement. The consumer mayinitiate receipt of the wireless transmission identification signal witha portable communications device configured to receive the wirelesstransmission identification signal. The consumer may then generate arequest for information from a vendor over a wireless link of acommunications network with the portable communications device such thatthe request includes information from the wireless transmissionidentification signal. The consumer then receives a response to theconsumer request from the vendor over the wireless link of thecommunications network at the portable communications device to getadditional information about the product or confirm a purchase made inthe request.

The technology also may involve a hand-held apparatus for making awireless order from a consumer to a vendor over a network from a massmedia publication. The apparatus includes a transceiver for transmittingand receiving wireless signals for communicating with a vendor systemover a network. The apparatus also includes a reader device configuredto read vendor or product information transmitted from a mass mediapublication containing a radio frequency identifier with the vendor orproduct, the radio frequency identifier being associated with anadvertisement of the mass media publication. A control processor of theapparatus, coupled to the transceiver and reader device, is configuredfor accepting input by a user of the apparatus to initiate reading ofthe radio frequency identifier of the mass media publication with thereader device. The control processor further generates a request forinformation about the vendor or product with the radio frequencyidentifier and communicates the request to the vendor system with thetransceiver. The control processor also controls receiving a responsewith information from the vendor system.

In another form, the technology includes a method for taking a wirelessorder from a consumer by a vendor over a network from a mass mediapublication. A vendor advertises a product or service in a mass mediapublication. The mass media publication is configured with a radiofrequency identifier with information associated with the product orservice advertised. The radio frequency identifier is readable by aportable wireless communications device available to a consumer. Thevendor configures a vendor system to receive an electronic order from aconsumer across a network using the portable wireless communicationsdevice. The order is based on a request with information from the radiofrequency identifier. The vendor system includes further product orservice information associated with the radio frequency identifier. Thevendor then can respond to the orders from the consumer by providing thefurther information to the consumer.

In another form, the technology includes a method for dynamically andautomatically generating responses to consumer wireless orders. Acommerce data organization system may access supplemental condition datato tailor the response and thus permit varying responses to the samerequest sent on behalf of different users. In addition, the response maybe customized based on consumer benefit bidding or vendor benefitbidding, in which case the response may vary depending on the value ofthe consumer benefit and/or the advertising fee paid by the vendor.

In yet another form the technology includes an automated method andsystem for responding to a consumer's wireless request for a service orproduct offered by a vendor. The wireless request is associated with ahuman-perceptible advertisement. The advertisement is associated with anRFID transmitter that transmits a wireless transmission identificationsignal representing information pertaining to the service or productoffered by the vendor.

The system and method involve receiving an electronic consumer requestat a commerce data organization system from a wireless ordering device.The commerce data organization system then generates a responseassociated with information pertaining to the product or service andfurther associated with supplemental condition data. The supplementalcondition data permits varying responses to electronic consumerrequests. An example response may include a plurality of vendorsproximate to a geographic location of the wireless ordering device.

The supplemental condition data may be received in whole or in part fromthe wireless ordering device. The supplemental condition data maycomprise vendor inventory data, vendor traffic data, shipping cost data,shipping time data, customer referral incentive offer data, itempopularity data, payment account identification data, consumertransaction history data, consumer affinity data, vendor geographicproximity data, or wireless ordering device geographic location data.The supplement condition data may also comprise data derived fromtracking and maintaining: dates and times of customer informationrequests, vendor's locations, customer purchases, customer accountinformation.

The technology also involves generating a response based on selectingfrom a plurality of vendor bids. The selection may be based on the onewith the lowest consumer value, the bid with the highest vendor fee orthe bid that has the lowest consumer price and a highest vendor fee.

In one form, the mass media publication is a printed publication havingat least one radio frequency identification tag for identifying a vendoror product. However, many such identifications or tags may be used fordifferent vendors or products. The mass media publication may also be abillboard, periodical, magazine, mailer or a post card, etc. having oneor more radio frequency identifiers or RFID tags. In a preferred form,the mobile ordering or consumer communications device is also a mobile,wireless, cellular and/or “smart” telephone equipped for voice and datacommunication.

Additional aspects of the technology will be apparent from a review ofthe drawings, the following disclosure, and the claims.

BRIEF DESCRIPTION OF THE DRAWINGS

FIG. 1 is a representation of a consumer with a preferred point ofadvertising wireless ordering device receiving vendor productidentification signals transmitted from a billboard mass mediapublication;

FIG. 2 is a representation of a preferred point of advertising orderingapplication in a wireless ordering device;

FIG. 3 is a network diagram of an example embodiment including preferredcomponents of a wireless mass media commerce system including a point ofadvertising ordering device;

FIG. 4 is a flow chart of preferred steps for achieving a wireless massmedia commerce system.

FIG. 5 is a flow chart of example steps for generating a response thatincludes geographically proximate vendors;

FIG. 6 is a flow chart of example steps for generating a response thatincludes a time sensitive offer for a perishable item;

FIG. 7 is a flow chart of example steps for generating a response thatincludes overstock liquidation; and

FIG. 8 is a flow chart of example steps for generating a response thatvendor bids.

FIG. 9 is a flow chart of example steps for tap initiated sharing;

FIG. 10A is a flow chart of example steps for a consumer transactionreward system;

FIG. 10B is a flow chart of example steps for sharing based rewardsystem; and

FIG. 10C is a flow chart of example steps for a reward system based on aconsumer transaction and sharing.

DETAILED DESCRIPTION

Referring to the figures, where like numerals indicate similar features,a point of advertising ordering system 2 for electronic commercetypically includes a wireless ordering device 4 that is preferablyaccessible to a mobile consumer, such as a laptop, hand held or palmcomputer, a personal data assistant (PDA) or other programmableinput/output processing device such as a smart mobile phone, wirelessphone or cellular telephone. The consumer accessible point ofadvertising ordering device 4 is configured for connection or networkingto other systems or computers via one or more communications mechanismsfor purposes of ordering information or products and services from oneor more vendors. While such communication links may in part beimplemented as a physical connection such as a telephone line, cable orcontact based (e.g., cradle) hook-up, in a preferred embodiment, theordering device 4 at least includes a communications mechanism that canlink the device to other systems via a wireless communications channel.

For example, the device may be configured for Wireless Fidelity (WiFi®)networking (wireless networking), Bluetooth® networking (wirelessnetworking) and/or communications over a mobile telephone network fortransmitting data and/or voice with a transceiver (e.g., General PacketRadio Service (GPRS) or other radio service network). Where suchnetworked communications involve transfer of signals or messages overone or more network(s) 6 that includes an open-type network, such as aninternet or the Internet, preferably such signals or messages areencrypted. As will be described in more detail herein, the wirelessordering device 4 also preferably includes a reader mechanism fordetermining vendor, product or service information from a mass mediapublication 4.

The point of advertising ordering system 2 also includes a mass mediapublication 10 configured for transmitting product, service and/orvendor information signals associated with an advertisement of the massmedia publication 10. Preferably, the mass media publication transmitssuch information by means of radio frequency identification technology(RFID). For example, RFID technology, such as ultra thin transpondertags 11, may be inserted, applied or incorporated into the mass mediapublication and associated with a human perceivable advertisement of avendor, product or service. The RFID includes information to identify avendor, product and/or service (i.e., commerce information). Preferably,the vendor, product and/or service may also be contained in, presentedor described in the advertisement. In the RFID tag example, transmissionof vendor, product and/or service information or commerce signals may beactive or passive.

The RFID transmission may be any low energy or close vicinity orproximity wireless communication such as active or passive tags,transmitters or transceivers. The transmission may include a particularnumber or numbers that may be associated with particular vendor, productand/or service information, such as a vendor name, vendor contactinformation including, for example, a phone number, network address,mailing address or other, quantity information, cost, price, type ofproduct, type of service, etc. Thus, when used to request or orderinformation or make a purchase, the number transmitted in the signal maybe used to access the related information stored in a database as willbe explained in more detail herein.

As illustrated in FIGS. 1 to 3, examples of the mass media publicationcontaining RFID and other advertisement may be a magazine, news paper,periodical, mailer, post card, outdoor or out-of-home media, billboard,bus shelter poster board, car card, tent card, catalog or a broadcastmessage such as a radio or television communication, whether transmittedvia wireless transmission (e.g., radio transmissions or satellite)and/or cable transmission in whole or in part. For example, a magazinemay include one or more RFID tags with each associated with a particularproduct, service or vendor. Each tag may be located near a humanperceivable advertisement in the magazine. In another example, a radioor television connected by cable, satellite or otherwise, may beequipped or attached with a re-programmable tag or device that may bechangeable for re-transmitting different RFID's from the tag or devicedepending on the content of the broadcast signals received by the radioor television and the tag or device.

A vendor may be any entity that provides communication for a consumerservice or commerce transactions. A vendor may, for example, be amanufacturer, advertiser, retailer or all of the above. In certain casesa vendor benefits from automated media commerce as both the advertiserand retailer.

In general, the point of advertising ordering system 2 may also includecommerce related systems such as one or more vendor systems 12.Generally, the vendor system 12 is accessible by the network 6 and maybe associated with an advertisement contained in a mass mediapublication 10 as well as the associated commerce signal enabled by themass media publication 10. It is preferred that the vendor system 12 beenabled for receiving or processing requests for vendor/product/serviceinformation and responding to them. Thus, in a typical arrangement, thecommerce system 12 may electronically receive an order for moreinformation or an actual purchase order over the network 6 and send backresponses concerning these transactions in response to a transactioninitiated by a consumer with a wireless ordering device 4.

The vendor system would typically include one or more servers coupled bycommunications device(s) to the network 6 and would include applicationsoftware for accessing information in a database associated with vendorproducts or services and communicating with systems over the network.The one or more servers embody the vendor's information architecture andmay include an advertising media content server, a customer servicedatabase, customer relationship management database, or consumer loyaltyand rewards systems.

As illustrated in FIG. 3, the commerce system of the technology may alsooptionally include a commerce data organization system 14. The commercedata organization system can serve to organize transactions over thenetwork based on vendor/product/service or other commerce facilitatingsignals from a mass media publication 10. Generally, the commerce dataorganization system 14 may manage information associated with thecommerce signals. Thus, a database or other storage structure of one ormore servers of the commerce data organization system 14 may includevendor information including contact details for electronicallyaccessing a vendor system 12 over a network. Similarly, such vendorinformation may include product and service description or details abouta product or service that may be advertised in the wirelessly enabledmass media publication 10 and particularly associated with commercesignals transmittable from or in the mass media publication 10. Like thevendor servers, the commerce data organization system would typicallyinclude a communications device for communicating with other systems anddevices over the network (6).

Such a commerce data organization system 14 may also be utilized topreserve and organize transaction details concerning requests forinformation or purchases (i.e., order information) based on requestsgenerated by a wireless ordering device 4 with commerce signalsemanating from the wirelessly enabled mass media publication 10. Thus,the system may track or maintain product availability from differentvendors or different vendor's locations, customer purchases orinformation requests and buying habits, dates and times of suchtransactions, product/service options, payment methods etc. Such asystem may even be utilized to maintain account information (e.g.,credit or cash card numbers), shipping address information, etc. forpurchases by consumers to minimize repeated entry of such data by theconsumer with a wireless ordering device 10. The commerce dataorganization system 14 may include an authentication module to verifyuser accounts, vendor accounts, wireless ordering devices and vendorsystems. This allows the commerce data organization system to functionas a Trusted Service Manager (e.g., trusted intermediary). This mayinvolve acting as a neutral broker that provides end-to-end security. Byindividually authenticating the users and the vendors, they may transactwith one another in a secured manner although neither has authenticateddirectly to the other.

Authentication of a user or vendor account may involve passwords, usernames/avatar, or biometric data. Authentication of a device may involvemanaging security keys as well as require probing the device to confirmthe software or hardware has not been compromised (e.g., paymentsoftware was replaced with a malicious version).

The commerce data organization system 14 may electronically act toarrange a purchase through the network 6 by communicating with anothervendor system 12 in the event that an electronic purchase order isreceived from a wireless ordering device 4. Alternatively, such apurchase may be placed between the wireless ordering device 4 and thevendor system 12, while the commerce data organization system serves topreserve data of such transactions and/or provide access to data forsuch transactions based on requests with or for information receivedfrom either the vendor system 12 or wireless ordering device 4.Optionally, the commerce data organization system may also act as avendor system 12.

As illustrated in FIG. 3 the commerce data organization system 14 mayalso include supplemental condition data 15. The commerce dataorganization system 14 may employ the supplemental condition data 15 asinput for automatically and intelligently generating dynamic responsesto RFID based transactions. The supplemental condition data 15 mayinclude, for example, price data, shipping cost data, shipping timedata, vendor traffic data, vendor bid data, vendor inventory data,consumer interest data (e.g., wish list), offer expiration and detailsdata, retail season data, item expiration data, item detail data,service description data, item popularity data, payment account data,coupon data, gift card data, brand/vendor credit card data,identification data, customer referral incentive offer data, consumertransaction history data, or geographic proximity data which may includecurrent and past geographic location data of the wireless orderingdevice, vendor geographic location data and RFID tag geographic locationdata.

Supplemental condition data may also include vendor or consumer affinitydata. Affinity data may relate to a customer or vendor aligning with asocial cause or being socially responsible. This may relate to aphilanthropic or charitable organization (e.g., Breast Cancer ResearchFoundation), cause marketing (e.g., breast cancer awareness), a publicservice announcement, corporate social responsibility, social welfareincentive (e.g., sustainability), or community interest (e.g.,supporting locally grown goods, or ethically traded products).

Affinity data may also relate to a consumer's prior relationship with aspecific vendor. This may include data concerning the existence of apayment account, rewards card, past purchases or a partnership.Alternatively, the affinity data may be based on the similarity of avendor with another vendor that already has an established relationshipwith the consumer.

Supplemental condition data may also include consumer transactionhistory data, which may include the types of products purchased, orfavorite brands. It may also include the consumer's action or inactionin response to past advertisements, such as merely viewing the detailsas opposed to actually purchasing a product or service. It may also takeinto account whether a prior order was cancelled or returned. Thecommerce data organization system 14 may generate a response based onthe supplemental conditional data using a system of bidding. The biddingmay be consumer benefit bidding or vendor benefit bidding or acombination of both. Consumer benefit bidding generates a response thatselects bids based on value to the consumer. The value may be calculatedby analyzing a variety of supplemental condition data. For example, thesystem may take into account price data, vendor and consumer affinitydata, and/or geographic location in assigning a value to a vendor.Alternatively, the system may increase or decrease the value, oreliminate a vendor based on any supplemental data. For example, a vendorthat sets aside a portion of the purchase price for a customer supportedsocial cause may have an increased value. In addition, if the consumerhas a gift card, a vendor credit card with a lower interest rate, or acoupon it may affect the value. The flow chart of FIG. 8 illustrates anembodiment of the consumer benefit bidding. In step 91 the commerce dataorganization system receives the RFID based information from thewireless ordering device. In step 92 the system then identifies thevendors that are able to fulfill the request, such as for a consumerproduct. In step 93 the system accesses the supplemental condition datafor the vendors bid. This supplemental condition data may be directlyaccessible by the commerce data organization system (e.g., in localdatabase). Alternatively, accessing supplemental condition data mayinclude real time contact or negotiation with a vendor system. Next, thesystem may sort the vendor bids based on value, as discussed above, andselect the bids with the highest value as seen in steps 94 and 95. Thesystem then includes these bids in the generated response, which is sentto the wireless ordering device as seen in steps 96 and 97.

Vendor benefit bidding is different from consumer benefit biddingbecause the former selects bids based on the fee a vendor will pay tohave their response transmitted to the wireless ordering device. Thisfee is not necessarily related to the price that the consumer will payfor the item. Rather this may be the advertisement fee paid by thevendor to have its advertisement transmitted and/or placed in a betterposition when sent to a potential customer. This fee may be a fixed feeper response or may depend on the size or time of the response, or thekeywords or content of the request. When using the vendor benefitbidding the commerce data organization system first determines theavailable vendors that can fulfill the request. It may then sort a listof determined vendors based on the vendor fee and select the bids withthe highest vendor fee. The selected bids are then included in thegenerated response, which is sent to the wireless ordering device.

In some cases, the commerce data organization system may generate aresponse by selecting bids based on a combination of consumer benefitbidding and vendor benefit bidding. This may result in the selection ofa bid that has a high consumer value, which benefits the consumer, yetstill maximizes the profit potential for the commerce data organizationsystem by choosing bids with a higher advertisement fee. When using thisdual selection mechanism the commerce data organization system firstexecutes the consumer benefit bidding discussed above to select a groupof bids that have the same consumer value or are within a narrow rangeof values. It then sorts this group using the vendor benefit biddingdiscussed above to select the subset of the group that has the largestvendor fee. It then includes this subset in the generated response,which is sent to the wireless ordering device.

In other cases the commerce data organization system 14 may generate aresponse taking into account the value as discussed above, but mayemphasize, for example, providing the product in the shortest amount oftime. For purchases to be made in person or for in-store pickup this mayrequire generating a response with geographically proximate vendors. Ifa consumer wishes to purchase a product in-person, the commerce dataorganization system 14 may access the geographic location of thewireless ordering device and compare it to the geographic locations ofknown vendors. This allows the system to calculate which vendor can bereached in the least amount of time. This calculation may be based onlyon the distance between the current location of the wireless orderingdevice and the location of the vendor. Alternatively, it may take intoaccount the projected route and/or transportation modality (e.g.,walking, automobile, subway or boat) of the consumer and select a vendorthat is closest to the consumer's route. The projected route and/or modeof transportation may be based on geographic tracking of the mobileordering device or assisted by the user.

In an alternate embodiment the system may use the geographic location ofthe advertisement (e.g. RFID transponder) instead of the geographiclocation of the wireless ordering device. In this case, theadvertisement location may act as a proxy for the location of thewireless ordering device. This allows the response to includegeographically proximate vendors without accessing the geographiclocation data of the user or wireless ordering device, which may berestricted due to privacy concerns.

The geographic location of the advertisement may be maintained by thecommerce data organization system. This may be done by providing eachadvertisement with RFID information in the RFID tag or transmitter thatmay be associated with a specific geographic location. Thus, if thereare many instances of an identical advertisement (e.g., multiple smartposters), they may be configured such that each instance of theadvertisement has an unique RFID tag. The correlation between the RFID'sunique ID and its geographic location may be known to the advertiser,vendor, or a third party and may be accessed by the commerce dataorganization system via the push or pull method described below.

The flow chart in FIG. 5 illustrates an example embodiment of a methodfor detecting the geographically proximate vendors. In step 60, thesystem (e.g., commerce data organization system) receives the RFIDinformation from the wireless ordering device. In step 61, the systemaccesses the supplemental condition data for the geographic location ofthe wireless ordering device. In step 62, the system may access thesupplemental condition data for the vendor, which includes the vendor'sgeographic location, its inventory and the vendor traffic (e.g. lines atcheckout). The supplemental condition data may accompany the request orbe accessed by a push or pull method discussed below. In step 63, thesystem creates a list of vendors or vendor locations that are able tofulfill the request and are geographically proximate.

In step 64, the system calculates the time necessary to fulfill therequest for each vendor. The system may employ the geographic distanceas well as other variables that will affect time, such as supplementalcondition data relating to the vendors traffic, (e.g., checkout lines).By considering this, the system may select a vendor location that isfarther away if the checkout wait time is shorter, and thus wouldminimize the total time required to fulfill the request. The system thenselects the vendor or vendors from the list that require the shortestduration of time and includes this in the generated response, which isthen transmitted to the wireless ordering device, as seen in steps 65and 66.

If the consumer opted to make the purchase online the commerce dataorganization system 14 may look to different supplemental condition datato select a vendor that can provide the product in the least amount oftime. For example, the commerce data organization system 14 mayemphasize the shipping time and weight it higher than price andgeographic proximity. The shipping time may be based on the consumer'scurrent geographic location, the consumer's home address or an alternateaddress input by the consumer. It may also reference existing inventoryto check if the item will be backordered. If product is available it maylook to the supplemental condition data that estimates how long it takesto package and prepare the item for shipping.

In some cases, the commerce data organization system may generate aresponse that evaluates the value discussed above but emphasizes avendor's time sensitive offer (e.g., while supplies last or an offer onperishable goods or simply a time limited offer). This embodiment isillustrated in the flow chart of FIG. 6. In this situation, a wirelessordering device may submit a request for information concerning a timesensitive offer, as seen in step 72. The commerce data organizationsystem may then reference the supplemental condition data associatedwith a vendor to establish the inventory of goods and the duration ofthe offer, as seen in step 74. The system may also take into account thepopularity of an item to establish whether the item is still availableor available at a future date. The commerce data organization system 14can generate a response as seen in step 78 that highlights items thatqualify for the time sensitive offer or suggest others that have asimilar value. It may then transit the response to the wireless orderingdevice 79.

In an alternative scenario, the commerce data organization system 14 maygenerate a response that takes into account overstock liquidation. Thisembodiment is illustrated in the flow chart of FIG. 7. The commerce dataorganization system may reference the supplemental condition datarelating to the current retail season, inventory or popularity of theitem. The commerce data organization system 14 may first estimate theduration of the existing retail season and compare it to the currentdate, as seen in steps 81-82. If the retail season has ended it maydiscount the price of the goods, as seen in step 83, or list the goodhigher in the list of products returned. If the season has not yet endedit may analyze the current inventory and popularity of the item toextrapolate when the inventory will be depleted, as seen in step 84. Ifdepletion is not expected to occur within the current retail season thesystem may take appropriate steps to incentivize consumers to purchasethe goods (e.g., decrease price) as seen in step 83.

In some cases, the commerce data organization system 14 may accessand/or evaluate the supplemental condition data to automaticallygenerate a response that can be tailored to the specific consumer thatsubmits the request. For example, an advertisement might not display aparticular product or local retail vendor, such as in the case of anadvertisement having a brand of a manufacturer. In such cases, when thewireless ordering device transmits a request related to an RFIDassociated with the advertisement, the request might not have a specificvendor (e.g., local retailer) or product but may be brand associated.The tailoring of the response may then be based, in whole or in part, onconsumer affinity data, consumer transaction history data or any othersupplemental condition data discussed above. For example, in some casesthe advertisement may be associated with a brand with many differentproducts that are sold by multiple retail vendors. In such a case thecommerce data organization system may evaluate the supplementalcondition data to choose which vendor or vendors would be mostbeneficial to the customer. (e.g., a highest value to the consumer, suchas a store at which the consumer frequents, has an account and/or has astore rewards program). In some cases, the commerce data organizationsystem will analyze the supplemental condition data to select aparticular product or products that might be most beneficial to theparticular customer such as suggesting a particular product for theconsumer of the advertised brand that would be most suitable for theconsumer.

A response generated by the commerce data organization system 14 maycontain multiple products or vendors and not just a single product orvendor. For example, the commerce data organization system 14 mayidentify a plurality of vendors that are proximate to the geographiclocation of the wireless ordering device. Alternatively, it may select asingle vendor but list multiple locations affiliated with that vendorfor one product. In some cases it may respond with multiple products ofone vendor. Whether to respond with such multiples entries may be basedon a preconfigured setting, dynamically decided by the commerce dataorganization system 14 or selected by the consumer.

The supplemental condition data 15 may originate from a variety ofsources. Some of the supplemental condition data may be passivelytracked during the processing of prior requests, as discussed above.Alternatively, the supplemental condition data may be received from thevendor system or wireless ordering device. In this case the informationmay be either retrieved by the commerce data organization system 14 orit may be pushed by either the vendor system or wireless orderingdevice. The commerce data organization system 14 may retrieve thesupplemental data by making an outgoing request to retrieve theinformation. The vendor system or wireless ordering device then respondsto the commerce data organization system to provide the informationrequested. This information may reside in local storage of the wirelessordering device or vendor system or may require the system or device toprompt its user to input data. Pushing, on the other hand, requireseither the vendor system or wireless ordering device to initiate contactwith the commerce data organization system 14 to provide additionalsupplemental data or update existing supplemental data. This latterpushing approach may be configured to provide real time updates of thesupplemental condition data.

The supplemental condition data may also be a parameter configured bythe consumer, vendor, advertiser or an affiliate or partner. Forexample, the consumer may select or enter favorite retailers and/orcauses. The configurable data may also in part be contained in the RFIDof an advertisement. As a result, a vendor may disseminate supplementalcondition data embedded with the advertisement. For example, when theRFID of an advertisement is read, the data may be loaded onto thewireless ordering device. At that point, it may accompany the consumerrequest or may reside in cache or local storage to be subsequentlyretrieved or pushed to the commerce data organization system.

As illustrated in more detail in FIG. 2, the wireless ordering device 4generally includes a processor 20 and memory 22 with processor controlinstructions and/or other microcontroller or other application specificelectronic control circuitry. The ordering device also includes one ormore wireless transceiver circuit(s) 24. Such circuit(s) may serve asthe communications mechanism for purposes of ordering information orproducts and services from one or more vendors as well as the readermechanism for determining vendor, product or service information from amass media publication 4. Such transceiver circuit(s) 24 may beincorporated into the wireless ordering device 4 or attachable orinsertable as expansion modules, cards or components of such a device,for example, by coupling with or into a wireless phone, PDA or laptop.Preferably, such transceiver circuit(s) 24 is/are incorporated to permitthe wireless ordering device 4 to serve with the communicationsmechanism and reader mechanism as a compact unit for hand-heldoperation.

Consistent with the mass media publication's 10 incorporation of RFIDinformation, the reader mechanism is at least a wireless reader capableof or configured for receiving and decoding vendor, service or productidentification information from the mass media publication. Thus, thewireless ordering device 4 may include an RFID reader for receivingwireless signals from a mass media publication 10 utilizing RFIDtechnology. Optionally, in the case of passive RFID technology, thereader mechanism may be equipped to activate a transmission of RFIDinformation from the mass media publication 10 by transmitting signalsto an RFID tag of the mass media publication 10, for example, to powerthe RFID tag to transmit RFID information to the reader mechanism.

Preferably, such components of the wireless ordering device 4 are usedin conjunction with implementing functionality of a point of advertisingordering application 26 of the wireless ordering device 4. One suchpreferred methodology of such an application is illustrated in the flowchart of FIG. 4.

Generally, a consumer with a wireless ordering device 4 may review amass media publication 10, such as the magazine or periodicalpublication illustrated in FIG. 2 or billboard of FIG. 1. As previouslydiscussed, the mass media publication 10 includes a mechanism fortransmitting commerce related signals such as RFID information. Asillustrated in FIG. 4, in a reading step 30, the RFID information isreceived from the mass media publication preferably by wirelesscommunication, which may be initiated by an input command of theconsumer on the wireless ordering device 4. In a processing step 32, thepoint of advertising ordering application 26 will then process the readRFID information on the wireless ordering device 4 depending on input ofthe consumer. Thus, a consumer may input into the wireless orderingdevice 4 that more information about a vendor, product or serviceperceived in an advertisement of the mass media publication 10 should berequested. Optionally, such input may indicate a request to purchasethat which is being perceived by the consumer in the advertisement ofthe mass media publication.

Once the device reads the RFID information, in a generating step 34, thepoint of advertising ordering application controls the wireless orderingdevice 4 to generate a wireless request that includes the RFIDinformation. The request is preferably transmitted from the wirelessordering device 4 over the network(s) 6 to a vendor system 12 and/or thecommerce data organization system 14 as previously described. Such atransmitted request may include a user identification associated with aparticular consumer or a particular wireless ordering device 4.Additional transmitted request information may include password or passcode, form of payment information, media location or media description(e.g., identifiers describing the mass media publication from which thecommerce signal is received.) This information may be coded (e.g., anumber being associated with a name) such that it will be recognized bythe vendor system 12 and/or the commerce data organization system 14upon access of their database or other data storage structures.

In return from the vendor system 12 and/or commerce data organizationsystem 14, the wireless ordering device 4 will receive vendor, productor service information associated with the commerce signal read by thewireless ordering device 4 advertised in the mass media publication 10.Thus, the consumer may, for example, learn by display of information onthe wireless ordering device 4, additional information about anadvertised product or confirm a purchase from a vendor. For example, thevendor system 12 and/or the commerce data organization system 14 maygenerate an email confirmation receivable by the wireless orderingdevice 4.

While the above process has been described by a single request andresponse between the wireless ordering device 10 and the vendor system12 and/or the commerce data organization system 14, multiple electronicrequests and responses between these systems/devices may be implementedto accomplish transactions contemplated by the system. For example,additional requests and/or responses may be transmitted to confirm thata consumer will proceed with a particular purchase so that the detailsof the purchase may be confirmed before purchase by the consumer such asreviewing shipping details, product quantity, price or other detailsetc. that may be related to such transactions.

The disclosure of U.S. patent application Ser. No. 13/841,000, withTitle “Systems and Methods For Automated RFID Based Commerce Rewards”,filed on Mar. 15, 2013, is incorporated herein by reference in itsentirety.

The commerce data organization system 14 may also manage a rewards orincentive program. Thus, it may maintain rewards account data andrewards rules for crediting or debiting value to the accounts. Thisprogram may include providing rewards for sharing information about anadvertisement or purchase. The rewards are designed to incentivizeconsumers to engage with RFID associated media and share and publishtheir media experiences. The rewards may be based on a system of points,discounts, rebates, coupons or a combination of any or all of them. Thepoints system accumulates points (e.g., reward points, loyalty points,affiliate-based points, bonus points) that are then associated with auser's account. The points may operate as a virtual currency where theymay be redeemed for reward items, which may include vendor gift cards,merchandise, services and/or trips. Discounts and rebates may beinstantly effective on a current purchase or capable of being used for afuture purchase of the same item or a different item. As discussed belowthe rewards may be transferred to another user, entity or cause eithermanually or automatically.

Sharing messages concerning an advertisement or past or prospectivepurchase is one way to accumulate rewards. The advertisement may beanything described above, which includes identifying a brand, product orservice. These may be aligned with a social purpose, such as a publicservice announcement, a philanthropic organization, cause marketing,social welfare incentive or community interest that may be identified bythe advertiser or vendor as a corporate social responsibilityinitiative.

The shared message may contain text, images, video, audio or other formof multimedia communication. In addition to or as an alternative, theRFID information described herein may be included in the message. Forexample, the message may include unique element of RFID information(e.g., reward code, advertiser or vendor ID, RFID code segment, orunique identifier) that may attribute the message to the advertisementand/or RFID transmitter it originated from so that the sharing of themessage may be tracked. In addition, the message may include informationassociated with the user who shared the message. This may be theoriginal sharer and/or a subsequent sharer. This may also be used forattribution and crediting, to be discussed below.

Sharing may be done through any form of social media. Social mediarefers to the means of interactions among people in which they createand exchange information and ideas in virtual communities and networks.The message may be shared by using social media tools. A social mediatool may be various online and software tools that allow users tocommunicate via a network such as the Internet and share information andresources. This includes the social media server and server sidecomponents, as well as the social media client and client sidecomponents (e.g., smart phone applications, etc.). Typical social mediatools include: social networking systems (e.g., Facebook, Google+,Myspace, LinkedIn); blogs and micro-blogs (e.g., Twitter); web feeds(e.g., news feeds or RSS feeds); virtual storefronts (e.g. Ebay, Etsy);content sharing tools, which may include tools to share pictures (e.g.,Flickr, Pintrest) or for sharing videos (e.g., Youtube); and tools thatsupport more direct communication, such as email, text messaging (SMS),and MSM messaging.

The wireless ordering device or commerce data organization system mayinclude mechanisms to ease or automate sharing. One such system is tapinitiated sharing, which is illustrated in the flow chart of FIG. 9. Themethod of tap initiated sharing may include step 101 where the wirelessdevice detects that it has been tapped against an advertisement or inclose proximity to the advertisement. The tap may be a coupling of thewireless device with a region of an advertisement or RFID transmitterassociated with an advertisement. The action involved in initiatingsharing may be based on a further user input such as shaking of themobile ordering device, or a hand gesture, such as a touch, press orswiping finger across a screen or bezel. Thus, the wireless mobiledevice may have a sensor module. The sensor module may be anaccelerometer, gyroscope, or a tactile sensor sensitive to force,pressure or touch.

In step 102, the mobile ordering device reads the RFID. The transmissionof the RFID information may be performed in the same manner as discussedabove. The RFID transmission may be followed by further transmissionsuch as wireless transmission based on the information stored in theRFID transmitter (e.g., tag). For example, the RFID may contain aUniform Resource Locator (URL), or information for referencing orlinking to additional information. This additional information may be astatic file on a server or may be dynamic information on a server or website. The information may cause the wireless device to respond in acustomized manner, for example, to launch a browser or activate aspecific software application or service (e.g., Twitter or Facebook).

After reading the RFID information, the wireless ordering device mayperform step 103, which involves generating a message to be shared. Thisstep may prompt the user of the wireless ordering device to create amessage. The prompt may be in the form of an audio, visual or tactilealert. In response to the prompt, the user may create a message usingtextual input, for example, by using actual keys or soft keys. User mayalso use audio input via speech recognition to create the message.Alternatively, the wireless ordering device may generate a pre-populatedor partially populated message based on information associated with theRFID. As discussed above this may be the information contained by theRFID or any information related to the RFID (e.g., linked via URL) orassociated with the RFID in a database of a server such as the commercedata organization system. In an alternate embodiment, the messagegeneration step may be completely automated with no user interaction.This may allow a wireless ordering device that lacks a keyboard orgraphic user interface to be able to post shared messages.

Once the message has been generated, it may be shared in step 104.Sharing may be performed by the wireless ordering device and/or thecommerce data organization system and may involve communication with asocial media server. This may optionally involve the user to be promptedfor permission to share or to insert credentials (e.g., user name,password, biometric data, or other authentication information). Thisaspect may be automated if the user's credentials have beenpreconfigured. Once authorized, the sharing of a message may beperformed by using any of the message sharing tools discussed above.

In some cases, the sharing may be done sequentially. For example, oneuser may publish a shared message based on the RFID tag, and then asubsequent user may then republish by re-sharing the message or a newmessage concerning the product or advertisement without having directaccess to the RFID tag.

In some cases, the sharing may be triggered by a purchase such as apurchase based on an RFID transmission with the mobile ordering device.The message may be shared when a purchase is initiated or when it iscompleted.

In a further embodiment, the sharing may be triggered based on checkinginto a geographic location. For example, a user may attend a charityevent and upon a check-in procedure by the wireless device, such as byan RFID tap with an entry point to the event, the wireless device mayshare a message. This message may associate the user of the wirelessdevice with the event and/or its cause, such as by demonstrating theuser's support for the cause. In addition, the tap may result in rewardsbeing credited to a user by a sponsor. Such rewards may, at the user'soption, be automatically donated to the cause, such as by transfer ofthe value of the reward to an account associated with the cause.

In addition to sharing messages, a user may accumulate rewards based ona completed purchase. As discussed previously the commerce dataorganization system may be configured to track and maintain informationconcerning purchases based on RFID transmissions. When tracking thepurchases the system may associate rewards points with one or morepurchases. The purchase may be any purchase involving a good or service.The purchase may be completely automated or may be initiated by a userinteraction. The user interaction may be as simple as initiating an RFIDtransmission with a wireless ordering device.

Once a consumer transaction (e.g., purchase and/or request forinformation concerning an RFID associated advertisement) or an act ofsharing that qualifies for rewards occurs, the system may calculate theamount of a reward based on a set of programmed rules. Calculating thereward amount may depend on how the advertiser or vendor would like toreward the transaction. This may depend on whether the transaction was apurchase or based on message sharing. For a purchase, the reward maydepend on the price of the completed purchase, the number of purchases,the type of purchase (e.g., gas, food, flights). For sharing, the rewardmay depend on who is posting the message. This may be based on thedemographics of the user sharing, such as age, gender, occupation. Itmay also depend on the user's breadth of contacts (e.g., socialinfluence), such as the number of connected users (e.g., friends orfollowers) or the geographic extent of the distributed connections. Itmay also depend on the user's reputation in the community, years ofexperience, community rank, or prestige. It may also depend on thecontent of the message. For example, was the message's viewpointpositive or negative, or was there an in-depth review of the product orservice or did it merely include an item and price.

When calculating a reward the system may analyze the reactions of otherusers to the shared message. This may be based on the audience reachedby the message, such as the number of unique users that view the messageor the number of times each user views the message or a combination ofboth to derive the total number of views. The reward may also be basedon how other users respond to the message, such as commenting on themessage or “liking” the message. There may also be additional rewards ifanother user subsequently purchases the item or re-shares the message(e.g., a re-post or re-tweet).

Once a reward has been calculated, the system may then credit the user.Crediting a user reward may include attributing the reward to a userand/or also transferring a reward value to the user account.Alternatively the user may be given attribution but have the rewardpoints transferred to benefit a social cause (e.g., donated to a charityaccount) or a third person (e.g., friend or family member account). Thetransfer may include all of the reward or only a percentage and mayoccur automatically or be designated by the user.

Crediting a user may involve modifying a user account associated withthe user of the wireless ordering device. This account may exist withthe commerce data organization server or on any system described aboveor linked therewith. In some cases the account may exist with a thirdparty server, such as a media sharing network, affiliate network,partner network, online network, developer network, content distributionnetwork, or transaction network. In such cases, the commerce dataorganization server may typically communicate with the server thatmanages the account to provide a quantity of a reward or provide datanecessary for the server to determine an amount of a reward.

In some cases, rewards may be provided by the operator of the rewardssystem infrastructure described herein or may be paid directly by avendor of a brand being advertised or purchased, or by an affiliate orpartner. Alternatively, the rewards may be credited by the rewardssystem but then reimbursed by the other party.

The flow chart of FIG. 10A illustrates an example methodology of arewards system based on sharing messages. The method may begin with step50, where the system wirelessly reads RFID information of the vendor,product or service information, such as from an advertisement. Thesystem then shares a message associated with the RFID information instep 51. The system may then calculate a reward amount for the sharedmessage and credit a user account as seen in steps 52 and 53.

The flow chart of FIG. 10B illustrates an example methodology of arewards system based on a completed consumer transaction. The method maybegin with step 54, where the system wirelessly initiates a consumertransaction using RFID. When the consumer transaction is completed instep 55, the system calculates a reward amount for the consumertransaction in step 56. The system then credits a user account with thereward in step 57.

The flow chart of FIG. 10C illustrates an example methodology of arewards system based on a completed consumer transaction and the sharingof a message. The method may begin with step 58, where the systemwirelessly initiates a consumer transaction using RFID. When theconsumer transaction is completed in step 59, the system then shares amessage associated with the RFID information in step 501. It thencalculates a reward amount for the consumer transaction and/or a rewardamount for the shared message in step 502. The system then credits auser account with the reward in step 503.

Although the technology herein has been described with reference toparticular embodiments, it is to be understood that these embodimentsare merely illustrative of the principles and applications of thepresent technology. It is therefore to be understood that numerousmodifications may be made to the illustrative embodiments and that otherarrangements may be devised without departing from the spirit and scopeof the present technology as defined by the appended claims.

The invention claimed is:
 1. A method for responding, over acommunication network, to a wireless request from a consumer to anadvertiser, the wireless request associated with a human-perceptibleadvertisement of a service offered by a vendor, the advertisementassociated with at least one transmitter and associated with a wirelesstransmission identification signal representing information pertainingto the service offered by the vendor, the wireless transmissionidentification signal being transmitted from the transmitter associatedwith the advertisement and received at a wireless ordering device of theconsumer, the method comprising: receiving an electronic consumerrequest at a commerce data organization system from the wirelessordering device via the network, the electronic consumer request havingelectronic information pertaining to the service offered by the vendorreceived by the wireless ordering device by way of the wirelesstransmission identification signal from the transmitter associated withthe advertisement; analyzing supplemental condition data to select aparticular product or products offered by the vendor that might bebeneficial to a particular customer associated with the wirelessordering device, the supplemental condition data to permit varyingresponses to electronic consumer requests with the wireless transmissionidentification signal from the transmitter, generating a response to theelectronic consumer request in a processor of the commerce dataorganization system, the response being associated with the receivedelectronic information pertaining to the service offered by the vendorat the wireless ordering device, the response further associated withthe supplemental condition data of the commerce data organization systemand provided over the network to the commerce data organization system,the response further comprising information pertaining to the selectedproduct or products; and sending the response to the electronic consumerrequest by providing, to the wireless ordering device via the network,the information associated with the information pertaining to theservice offered by the vendor read from the transmitter with informationindicating the selected product or products for displaying of theinformation indicating the selected product or products on the wirelessordering device.
 2. The method of claim 1 wherein the supplementalcondition data is received in part from the wireless ordering device. 3.The method of claim 1 wherein the supplemental condition data comprisesvendor inventory data.
 4. The method of claim 1 wherein the supplementalcondition data comprises customer incentive offer data.
 5. The method ofclaim 1 wherein the supplemental condition data comprises coupon data.6. The method of claim 1 wherein the supplemental condition datacomprises proximity data.
 7. The method of claim 1 wherein thesupplemental condition data comprises wireless ordering devicegeographic location data.
 8. The method of claim 1 wherein thesupplemental condition data comprises consumer transaction history data.9. The method of claim 1 wherein the supplemental condition datacomprises affinity data.
 10. The method of claim 1 further comprisingtracking information requests based on the signals emanating fromtransmitters, the supplemental condition data comprising data derivedfrom the tracking.
 11. The method of claim 10 wherein the trackingcomprises maintaining dates and times of customer information requests.12. The method of claim 1 further comprising, receiving at the commercedata organization system, a purchase request for at least one of theproduct or products from the wireless ordering device and wherein thecommerce data organization system completes a purchase transaction forthe one of the product or products.
 13. The method of claim 12 furthercomprising, crediting a value to an account in response to the purchasetransaction.
 14. The method of claim 13 wherein the crediting involves avirtual currency.
 15. The method of claim 13 wherein the crediting isbased on sharing of an electronic message.
 16. The method of claim 12wherein the commerce data organization system electronically arrangesfor completion of the purchase transaction as an intermediary.
 17. Themethod of claim 12 wherein the commerce data organization systemelectronically completes the purchase transaction with a maintainedpayment method.
 18. The method of claim 12 wherein completing thepurchase transaction comprises authenticating one or more of a user anda vendor.
 19. The method of claim 18 wherein authentication of a usercomprises biometric authentication.
 20. The method of claim 1 whereinthe transmitter is a transponder.